


Sunday Roast

by Clea2011



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 12:17:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3569363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clea2011/pseuds/Clea2011
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once a week, Uther liked to have a family meal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunday Roast

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Camelot drabble prompt 'Morgana', and it also fills the 'teens are monsters' square of my Trope Bingo round 4 card (well, I think it does anyway, it's another really odd prompt)

Once a week, Uther liked to have a family meal.

Really, it would be better to say that he insisted on it. He didn’t think it was a great deal to ask of his two children, to sit down with him for an hour and make good conversation. Not when he provided them both with so much.

Arthur, of course, did as he was told. Arthur was turning into a great follower. He would have to break his son of that bad habit sooner rather than later because he didn’t want a follower, he wanted someone who was going to lead the company to even greater things. Perhaps some work experience in the office once he’d finished his exams might help. Arthur probably didn’t have anything on over the summer and would be glad of it. He certainly never argued against the Sunday family dinners, claiming he wanted to see his friends instead. Not like Morgana.

“Where is your sister?” Uther demanded as Arthur followed him into the dining room. Morgana’s place sat empty.

“I haven’t seen her this morning.”

That probably wasn’t a lie, but Arthur would know where she was. They were forever using those infernal phones, and he’d heard Arthur’s beep as his son had come downstairs. Uther had banned them from the dining room, but he’d noticed both his children tended to make some excuse to briefly leave the room during any meals.

“I didn’t ask if you’d seen her, I asked where she was,” Uther snapped. He heard the front door opening. Outside, then. Probably either talking to the gardener or the chauffeur. He’d already had to speak to both of his staff, reminding them that whilst Morgana might be eighteen now, she was still their employer’s daughter and that they should remember that if they wanted to remain employed. Leon had looked mortified, but Percival had just nodded and carried on digging up the flowerbeds.

Morgana was carrying a rather pretty bunch of flowers. They looked remarkably similar to the ones in the new flowerbeds. That gardener might have to go.

“You’re late,” he told her as she put the flowers in a vase… an antique vase that was worth thousands of pounds.

“Fresh air is good for you,” she told him, and took her place at the table. Arthur muttered something and Morgana glared at him but didn’t respond.

“Family time is good for you,” Uther asserted, taking his place at the head of the table. “Now, I want to hear about your week, and your plans for the week ahead.” It was important to take an interest in his children’s lives, he knew. Although he prayed that there would be no retelling of a tedious football match this week, or worse, talk of the latest fashions that Morgana had decided she must have and which always resulted in her wheedling extra allowance money from him. She was probably a little old for an allowance, but whilst Arthur was still getting one it seemed unfair not to give to them both.

“I have a football match next Saturday,” Arthur began. “And then there’s a film some of my friends wanted to see in the evening. So I might be home late.”

“Will you be seeing Merlin then?” Morgana asked far too pleasantly.

Arthur… was Uther imagining it? He thought for a moment his son blushed. Merlin was that skinny, pale boy from Arthur’s school. The one who only got in on a scholarship. Ah, Arthur was ashamed of his friend’s poor background. Uther could understand that. It was admirable of Arthur to have become friends with him really.

“You should see the boy,” Uther told his son magnanimously. “It’s good to mix with the less fortunate. And he’s a clever boy from what I understand. Perhaps he’ll manage to better himself. Seeing how well your family have done will give him something to aim for in life.”

Morgana leaned across the table. Really, she needed to wear more modest tops, something more befitting of her status. No wonder that gardener was all over her. “Yes, Arthur,” she smirked. “Give Merlin something to _aim_ for. What might he want?”

“Shut up, Morgana,” Arthur hissed. “Stick to your gardening. I hear Percy is good with a hoe.”

Uther heard the thud as Morgana kicked her brother hard under the table. There was just over a year between them, and there had always been a fierce rivalry there. Morgana had been the product of an ill-advised affair, just before he’d met Arthur’s mother. Morgana had more or less been dumped on his doorstep, and although he loved the girl dearly, he knew she had a certain resentment over that rejection. Sometimes he thought it was directed at him, other times at Arthur for being the child his parents actually wanted. Uther had tried, in his way, to make her see that she was just as wanted. Still, it never seemed to quite be enough. There was always that underlying anger in Morgana that had got worse during her teenage years.

“And what about you, Morgana?” he asked. “Studying for your exams, I suppose?”

“In horticulture,” he heard Arthur mutter under his breath. The pair of them never seemed to let up. It would get worse, he supposed, when Arthur finally found himself a girlfriend. Morgana would torment him endlessly. Perhaps she would be away at university by then. Although it was strange, Arthur was nearly seventeen and there was still nobody. Captain of the football team, rich and good-looking… Perhaps he was just concentrating on his studies. If he wasn’t careful he was going to end up quite dull. Not like his sister.

Morgana shook her dark tresses defiantly and glared at Arthur before turning to smile too sweetly at Uther. He prepared himself. Whenever she smiled at him like that there was a request on the way. It usually involved his wallet.

“Of course I am. But, I was thinking. Perhaps I should take a gap year before going to uni? Go travelling? It’s supposed to be enriching…”

Uther doubted that. Not for him at least.

“I’d be sorry to leave you, of course. And this lovely house… the garden…”

Yes, actually it sounded like an excellent idea.

“I’ll consider it,” he allowed, and saw Morgana’s expression change to triumph and Arthur’s scowl deepen.

“I’d like a gap year too,” Arthur put in.

Not a chance. It wasn’t as if he would need to remove Arthur from an unsuitable relationship. “We’ll see.”

Morgana tilted her glass at Arthur in a mocking salute, knowing she’d got exactly what she wanted already.

She was going to be a force to be reckoned with when she settled on a career, Uther thought. Impossible girl, but he couldn’t help feeling a little proud of her too.

 


End file.
